


Got No Money But We Got Heart

by deathishauntedbyhumans



Series: Radiation Funland [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: First Kiss, Friendship/Love, GURPS Campaign, M/M, Making Out, Multi, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-04
Updated: 2019-06-04
Packaged: 2020-04-07 12:40:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19085233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathishauntedbyhumans/pseuds/deathishauntedbyhumans
Summary: Nick kisses Dez. Like, quite a bit.Finally.





	Got No Money But We Got Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from Walk the Moon’s _Anna Sun_ bc I’m actually a HEATHEN.

The blankets from the house they’re staying the night in are dirty and dust-filled, but they’re better than nothing, especially since Dez can’t help but be concerned about Anaïs’ consistent desperation to keep warm when the sun goes down. He’s had enough panic attacks in his life to recognise one when he sees one, and Anaïs had definitely had one the night they’d stopped on the way to New Salem. 

He’s grateful that Nick joins him, because despite the fact that nothing has hurt them around here yet, Dez isn’t sure if he wants to put his faith in that. Especially since there’s apparently a vampire  _ and _ a giant, three-headed snake within a thousand feet of them. 

Dez is nearly finished beating as much dust as he possibly can from the quilt when he catches sight of Nick draping his sheet haphazardly against the porch of the house and leaning back against the posts. That doesn’t really surprise him. The quilt in his hands is heavier than the sheet in Nick’s— it’s only logical that Nick would be finished first. 

What  _ does  _ surprise him is Nick’s next choice of topic. 

“Dez…” He looks up to see Nick watching him, a curious, shaded expression on his face. “You’ve never kissed anyone, have you?” It’s both a question and not, and it makes Dez a little hot under the collar of his dirty flannel to think about. He shakes his head. 

“No. I’ve never really had… the opportunity,” he replies quietly, looking down at the ground. He folds the quilt as well as he can over his arm. 

“Well, you do now.”

For a split second, Dez’s hands freeze on the quilt. Is— Is Nick trying to… come onto him?

And more importantly, does Dez  _ want this to happen?  _

He looks up at Nick, doing his best to keep his features blank. He doesn’t want to scare Nick off —Nick, who was crying into his hair less than fifteen minutes ago, who’s been one of the biggest factors keeping him grounded since the moment they’d met, who could turn into a fucking  _ wolf  _ and hadn’t even hurt him when he’d shifted— but he doesn’t know what to think, either. 

And then Nick’s features start to shift, start to fall, and Dez realises in a sharp bolt of absolute clarity that he  _ does  _ know what to think. He knows what he  _ wants,  _ and… Shit. He wants  _ Nick.  _

Nick, who is the kindest person he’s met in the wasteland (save for maybe Ode, but the thought of kissing  _ him  _ is bizarrely unpleasant) with his flaws and all, who Dez would fight a goddamn  _ giant snake  _ to stay with —if he… has to; he doesn’t have to be happy about it, but he’ll do it— and who is standing in front of him, two seconds away from looking crestfallen. 

“Alright,” Dez says. His voice cracks. He ignores it. 

Nick blinks at him. “What?”

“I— Alright. I mean, I assume that was you offering?” Dez is prepared to continue to ramble, because he’s  _ nervous,  _ but he’s nervous in a way that he’s never quite been nervous before. His heart feels like it’s beating too fast, but in a  _ good  _ way, which is new, and his stomach feels like there’s something trapped in it, fluttering to try and get free. 

Nick stops his rambling, though. He steps forward and slides one large hand to rest on the back of Dez’s neck, and Dez tilts his head back automatically. He’s working on some long-dormant instinct, some  _ feeling  _ he’s never had to or been able to tap into until this moment. 

And then Nick leans in to close the distance between their faces, and suddenly they’re kissing and Dez has never felt  _ anything  _ like this in his entire life.

Nick’s lips are gentle against his own. Nick seems to kiss the way he does everything else— there’s a single-minded intensity to it, like the universe has narrowed down to this single point, this single moment between them. 

It’s  _ glorious.  _

For a moment, a single moment, Dez knows no pain, no fear, no panic. He only knows the feeling of Nick against him, their lips moving  _ carefully curiously determinedly  _ against one another. 

All too soon, Nick ends the kiss, breaking it off and looking away. Dez’s lips feel  _ numb.  _

Nick’s hand slides away from his neck, and Dez feels ridiculously empty for it. The sensation he’d previously not known at all now feels like it’s an integral part of him. 

The brim of Nick’s hat and the bill of Dez’s bump against each other as Nick steps away again. Nick adjusts his hat, continues to avoid his gaze, and clears his throat. 

“Y’know, Dez,” he says quietly, and there’s a strange, new, husky quality to Nick’s voice that Dez finds he likes immediately. He can’t quite explain  _ what  _ it’s doing to him, but he definitely likes it. “I’ve never thought about you that way before, but if you ever wanted to do anything… we could.”

Dez’s lips still feel numb. He swallows, trying to find the words to respond, but he doesn’t even manage to get his bearings before Nick turns on his heel and stalks back into the house. 

The quilt nearly slides from Dez’s grip as he stares in confused disbelief at the doorway Nick just disappeared into. That was— Nick just— They had—

And then Nick walked back into the house and left his fucking blanket out here. 

Finally, Dez takes a good, deep breath and collects himself as best as he can. 

He wants to do that again, he’s pretty sure. No, he  _ knows  _ he wants to do that again.

Is this just the way things were out here? Dez knows for a fact that Nick tried to do  _ something  _ with Anaïs, and he also knows that he’d been… jealous? (Well, fuck. He’d been jealous.) He’d been jealous that Nick was spending all of his time attempting to get Anaïs’ attention. And now Nick is… trying to get his attention?

Sure, why not. Sounds reasonable enough.

Dez collects the blanket Nick had left on the porch and piles it with the quilt before walking back inside. He piles them both unceremoniously near the couch on the floor and considers retaking his seat down beside them before giving that idea up. The couch looks much more comfortable, especially with both Nick and Anaïs curled up on it. 

The rhythmic sound of Ode shaking the latest toy he’d found is a steady, almost calming background noise as Dez takes his seat. The couch isn’t as big as he’d assumed it would be; he winds up sitting half on Nick’s lap, but the warmth against him is a pleasant feeling, so he simply wiggles to get comfortable and leans back.

Within seconds, one of Nick’s arms is snaking around him, and Dez takes a deep breath and relaxes further into his touch. 

He turns his head to ask Nick something, or maybe to check on Anaïs, but Nick kisses him again without warning and Dez immediately forgets anything he’d been thinking about. 

“Are you two— kissin’?” Anaïs mumbles sleepily. Whether minutes or hours or  _ days  _ have passed, Dez isn’t certain, but he does know that Nick stops kissing him enough to give Anaïs an answer. 

“Yeah,” he says. Anaïs, who’s leaning against Nick, Dez realises belatedly, shifts slightly, pressing her face more firmly in between Nick’s shoulder blades. 

“Are you two— like, a thing?” she drawls, her southern twang even more pronounced than it normally is. Dez barely hears the question, because Nick is kissing him again, and Nick’s hands are trailing dangerously close to his shirt and pressing beneath the hem—

Nick turns his head to the side. “D’you wanna join us?” he asks. His voice is still husky, but there’s a note of annoyance and also something  _ other  _ that Dez can’t quite place. Desperation, maybe?

Anaïs shakes her head wearily. “I’m tired,” she says. “Maybe next time.”

The thought of a  _ next time,  _ of doing this again, makes a warmth that Dez has never experienced before bloom in his chest. He presses in to kiss Nick, this time, the action a little bolder than he means, before his head catches up with the action. 

This time, it’s Dez who turns his head. “She’s— Anaïs is— She’s right. We should sleep,” he gets out, voice tight where he’s not panting. Nick makes a noise of frustration, and Dez swallows back his own disappointment and shakes his head. “We have to fight a giant snake tomorrow, Nick. We need to rest.” Just the thought of  _ that  _ is sobering enough for Dez to need to take a moment to breathe, to try and rid himself of the unyielding  _ fear  _ that came along with the thought of fighting  _ anything  _ else out here in the Wasteland.

Nick heaves a sigh that Dez feels right down to his bones and nudges him in the back, not unkindly, but just hard enough for Dez to know that he’s not happy about quitting. “Alright,” he mutters. Dez stands —somewhat unsteadily; between the whiskey he’d been given when they’d settled in for the night and the lightheadedness he’s noticed he’s been feeling since the first time Nick kissed him, he really isn’t at his best— and offers Nick a hand. Nick, in turn, helps Anaïs up and off the couch, and Dez scoops the blankets back up before they all silently head into the bedroom. 

It doesn’t take long to spread the blankets back over the bed, even with Ode pushing at them briefly before they wiggle their way underneath it. A decision seems to be reached wordlessly once they’re ready to crawl into it, and Nick lies down in the centre of the bed with his arms splayed out at his sides in a silent offer. Anaïs curls up against his side immediately, and Dez follows suit without hesitation. Sleeping beside Nick the past few nights has been more comfortable than Dez remembers any kind of sleep being in a very long time. 

Despite that, Dez finds himself unable to actually find rest when he shuts his eyes. For the first time he can ever remember, though, the horrors he’s experienced aren’t the things keeping him awake. They don’t even play behind his eyelids as he lies there, motionless, with Nick pressed against him. Instead, he finds his thoughts drawn back to the feeling of Nick’s lips pressed against his own, Nick’s hands trailing with  _ just  _ enough pressure against his back and lower, holding him in his lap until he can twist further, until he’s more comfortable—

Anaïs shudders on the other side of Nick and tucks herself closer to him, and Dez opens his eyes to look to her, his breathing coming heavier than he wants to admit. 

She isn’t awake, but as Dez watches, she rolls on top of Nick and then off of him again, falling sleepy-slow to drop between Nick and Dez. Dez finds a smile on his own face before he can check it, and he readjusts the blankets around the three of them and lays an arm gently over Anaïs. 

He doesn’t sleep, but he doesn’t greet the morning with his usual dose of fear and trepidation, either. Instead, he feels…  _ content.  _

**Author's Note:**

> Dez is my anxious tiny man.   
> Anaïs belongs to @humorless_hexagon  
> Ode belongs to @mushygreens on tumblr  
> Nick belongs to @ragtag_slyboots
> 
> Kudos/comments are love! Come scream at me on tumblr @deathishauntedbyhumans.


End file.
